Góis Chestnut Gamelinhas

Also known as: Góis Trough Cakes

Small trough-shaped pastries filled with chestnut, walnut, honey, eggs and cinnamon.

Origin: Góis · Serra do Açor
Region: Góis · Serra do Açor
Season: Year-round; especially autumn

Sweetness

Richness

Difficulty

Gamelinhas de Góis are individual tarts shaped as small rectangular wooden troughs. A thin dough of flour, margarine, water and salt lines the mould and holds a generous filling of cooked chestnut, walnut, honey, eggs, yolks and sugar syrup.

In the oven, the centre becomes brown, moist and slightly craggy while the pastry case firms. Powdered sugar and cinnamon finish the surface. A cut piece reveals walnut fragments inside a dense chestnut-and-honey paste.

Ingredients

wheat flour
margarine
water
salt
cooked chestnuts
walnuts
honey
sugar
eggs
egg yolks
powdered sugar
cinnamon

Taste & texture

Earthy chestnut, walnut and floral honey with yolk richness, cinnamon and a contrast of moist filling and thin pastry.

Variations

Commercial reproduction requires municipal authorisation, protecting the trough shape and the honey, chestnut and walnut combination.

Where to try it

At Kentidoce bakery and confectionery in Góis and from producers authorised by the municipality.

Pairs well with

Chestnut liqueur, coffee or herbal tea.

History

In 2012 Góis municipality launched a competition to create an identity sweet based on local produce and municipal customs. The winning proposal was selected on 2 July and named Gamelinhas after the troughs in which mountain households kneaded cornbread and fritter dough and prepared food.

The municipality registered the brand with IGAC and INPI and licenses reproduction through a protocol. The reference recipe was supplied by Kentidoce bakery and confectionery, where it remains available year-round.

Sources: cm-gois.pt · visitarganil.pt

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